The other road to serfdom & the path to sustainable democracy /
The other road to serfdom and the path to sustainable democracy
by Eric Zencey.
- Hanover, [NH] : University Press of New England, c2012.
- xxix, 299 pages ; 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-286) and index.
Introduction: The Weather on Factory Planet The Other Road to Serfdom Friedrich Hayek, Socialist, and His Fallacy of the Excluded Middle What “Sustainability” Is Oil, Economic Theory, and the Moral Culpability of a Discipline The Economics Textbook That Just Might Save Civilization Getting Over GDP Industrial Civilization as a Pyramid Scheme The Financial Crisis Is the Environmental Crisis The Battle over the Environmental Kuznets Curve Revisiting “the Bet That Ruined the World” Freakonomist Cheap Shots Jane Fonda Got Terrorism? Blame Economists Ending the Culture War On the Oklahoma Abortion Laws, SUVs, and Climate Justice What Green Might Bring Acknowledgments Notes Index
Eric Zencey argues that traditional economic and political systems assume an infinite planet, but in reality, natural resources are limited. He critiques F. A. Hayek’s warning that central planning leads to tyranny, pointing out that free markets that ignore ecological boundaries can themselves create forms of economic and social serfdom. Zencey proposes an ecological approach to economics, which recognizes planetary limits and organizes economic activity sustainably. He applies this vision to challenges such as financial instability, population growth, fossil fuel dependence, inequality, and the overemphasis on GDP growth as a measure of progress. The book offers a progressive and optimistic alternative: a sustainable democracy where policies and economic systems serve the long-term common good while respecting environmental limits.